Some posters from your area will probably come along and give you some good advice, but in the meantime, let me get you started. If you are not going spray, then you are going to have to search out the roses that are very disease-resistant. That includes roses like Knock Out--which is why it is doing fine. I haven't grown most of the roses on your list, but I have seen roses like zephirine drouhin and abraham darby on blackspot magnet lists. In other words, don't even try to grow them if you aren't going to spray. Two things you can do now. 1)Check out the thread I started tonight about "Year-end Review: What are you Blackspotters" (or something like that). You don't want to grow any of those roses. 2) Go to the search box at top or bottom of the page and type in "disease resistant" or "blackspot"--that should call up dozens of threads talking about what roses you should or shouldn't be growing. And yes, there is hope for you. Since you are already becoming obsessed with roses (like the rest of us), just continue on learning more about roses, and you too can develop a lovely garden of roses--I promise you. Kate

I'm so sorry for your loss.Your mom touched many lives here,and she will surely be missed.May she rest in peace.My condolences to all who loved and knew her. Kathi

WELLLLLL>>>>> as my baby Texan Brother would say.... welll bust my britches !!!! that is a sight for sore eyes !!!! it is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo amazing... I've very seldom been speechless... but you take the cake!!! What in the world have you done to me....now you've gone and done it.......... You've made me crazy with desire !!!!!! Yes , it's true... i"ve been bitten by the bug... the gluing, grouting, glass, marble what ever... B U G !!! all from reading this post !!!! I don't know whether to SHOUT ~ Sing ~ clap my hands ~~~ jump up and down ~~~~ or W H A T !!!! It was an amazing T R I P for me just reading and L O '~' O K I N G at these pictures !!!! THANK YA __ T H A N K YA ===== T H A N K YA !!!!!!!! God Bless You and your tallent and Fantastic Work !!! Thank you for sharing and thank you for inspiring me... that I can at least do S O MN/THN !!!!! ***** H A P P Y * * * * HOLIDAYS !!! M E R R Y + C H R I S T M A S !!!!!! God Bless! susiesunshine PS I AM A TEXAN TOOOOOOO!!!!! hope I drank the same water as you..... born in Odessa, Tx lived in FRISCO, TX - before I moved to Rockford, IL !!! (now I'm Freezing!!!) but perhaps I can WARM up if I learn to follow in your footsteps!!!!

This post turned out to be longer than I wanted it to be - sorry! I also saw the movie "The Help" after reading the book a while back. I agree that the movie stayed on track with the book, changing a few things, but did not stray from the storyline. I had an interesting email from my SIL, who read The Help, and experienced some disappointment because she thought, from what her friends had said, that the book was going to be another To Kill A Mockingbird. She also said once she realized she had misguided expectations, she was able to re-evaluate The Help and enjoy it in its own right. The Help is not To Kill A Mockingbird in many ways. In my opinion, here are three big differences between the books. To Kill A Mockingbird 1: TKAM was written through the innocent eyes of a powerless child, albeit a precocious one. 2: TKAM was a serious book that did not have a punch line or anything fantastical in it. Its light heartedness came from the fact that the children in the book did not truly realize how dangerous and dreadful things in their lives actually were, racially, financially, or physically; the readers know it, but the kids in the story do not. 3: In TKAM we are not left with the feeling that life will change for the better, for anybody, any time soon. The Help 1: TH was written from the viewpoint of a college educated woman, one who is coming to the realization that her world is terribly flawed, but she possesses power to affect it. 2: TH was not a totally serious book; it had a punch line - the chocolate pie - and a sense of fantasy about it. The chocolate pie was pivotal to the story, and although some might wish that it were true in real life, it most likely wasn't; yet we as readers suspend our disbelief and accept the idea that this pie is real. I have one problem with that: I believe that we as readers and moviegoers, especially those who lived through the turbulent CRM, must be sure to acknowledge the horrible truth about the race situation in the south. That situation also is nearly beyond belief, especially to the present generation. So, if the 'terrible awful' thing that Minnie did is a 'joke', was the situation in the south in the 1960's also a 'joke', or was it actual? In the movie, there is footage from the news coverage of the time; that is very important, I think. It moves the movie out of a possible fantasy tale and back into the real, historical world of that time. 3: In TH we are left with the feeling of hope. Things are changing in the culture; they are changing slowly and painfully and imperfectly, but they are changing, and for the better. Even though it is true that The Help is not To Kill a Mockingbird, there are some big similarities: Both books are generally about the same subject: racial discrimination in the south. Both books personalize that subject with such power that we cannot help but be moved. Both books have...